OILFIELD engineering group Aker Solutions highlighted opportunities in the North Sea as it today revealed multi-million pound losses caused by problems in Brazil.
Chairman Oyvind Eriksen said the North Sea was “still the world’s biggest offshore market”.
Norway-based Statoil’s recent Alldous/Avaldsnes discovery – one of largest recent oil discoveries – along with continued investment in existing fields would support the oil service industry for years to come, he added.
His comments came as the firm,. which employs more than 2,000 people in the north-east, revealed pre-tax losses of £26.3million in the third quarter after issues over subsea projects for Brazil’s Petrobras ramped up costs to £55.6million.
The firm has been battling delays and quality issues on subsea production systems it is producing for Petrobras.
Revenue for the thee months to the end of September were £951million, up from £883million in the same period in 2010.
The firm said its order backlog had risen to £4.9billion, up 23% year-on-year.
While acknowledging the firm’s problems in Brazil, Mr Eriksen said: “The North Sea is still the world’s biggest offshore market.
“We have always been buoyant about the many excellent opportunities in the North Sea but it is still fascinating to witness one of the world’s biggest oil discoveries on such a mature continental shelf.
“There is no doubt that the latest discoveries, combined with the oil companies’ efforts to extend the lives of producing fields, will generate a large amount of work for the oil service industry for several decades to come.”
He also said other business segments at Aker Solutions, part of the Aker Group, were delivering “solid financial results with improved margins”, particularly the engineering, drilling technologies and mooring and loading systems businesses.